Dummy on guard at Detroit hotel where woman died Friday

Apr. 22, 2013

This stuffed security guard appears to be keeping watch over the Corktown Inn in Detroit. A 21-year-old woman from the city was found shot to death in a hotel room Friday morning. Police haven't made any arrests yet. / Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press

Written by

Megha Satyanarayana

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

This surveillance camera photo released by the Detroit Police Department shows a man sought for questioning in the fatal shooting of a woman, 21, in her room at the 120-room Corktown Inn near downtown Detroit. / AP Photo/Detroit Police Department

This surveillance camera photo released by the Detroit Police Department shows a man sought for questioning in the fatal shooting of a woman, 21, in her room at the 120-room Corktown Inn near downtown Detroit. / AP Photo/Detroit Police Department

Chester Mirowski said Monday that he has a security guard watch the parking lot from Friday evening to Sunday evening. The dummy, wearing a baseball cap and resting in the driver’s seat, is supposed to deter car thieves and vandals at night, he said.

A surveillance camera near Room 121 has provided one of the clearest shots provided by police of the man they are looking for in the death of the woman, whom Mirowski said was new to the inn.

“In 140 rooms, this is the first time something like this has happened,” he said.

According to Mirowski, the woman called police Friday morning, likely from a personal phone. They arrived a few minutes later, and a clerk sent them away, not knowing of the call. As police got to the parking lot, Mirowski said, a housekeeper asked them to come back in, because she heard shots, a window was broken and a woman was lying on the floor of room.

“ You couldn’t open the door,” Mirowski said.

An exterior window in Room 121 was shattered. The bed was unmade, and there was a large blood stain by the front door. On Monday, a handyman was trying to fix the window.

The woman’s name has not been released. Detroit police released a surveillance image Saturday of a man they believe is a suspect in the killing, but police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said no arrests have been made.

Mirowski said much of his clientele is transient, and he had never seen the 21-year-old woman. The woman’s family said Monday morning that her mother was with detectives, and that they weren’t comfortable speaking without her.